Posted
by
Soulskillon Friday January 03, 2014 @02:25PM
from the taH-pagh-taHbeâ€(TM) dept.

Virtucon writes "A city councilman in Indian Trail Town, North Carolina has resigned and opted to write his letter of resignation in Klingon. David Waddell is obviously a fan of Star Trek. I wonder if the other council members know what the hell he wrote? I'm sure a nice Qu'vatlh would have sufficed."

OK, so the guy resigned in Klingon - probably before his local constituency voted him out. However, if he'd run and won using Klingon, that would be news.

Seriously, if you're going to learn a language, why not Spanish or Chinese something else you can use to communicate with and represent real people with real problems. (If you're a politician, that's really your only job.)

if you're going to learn a language, why not Spanish or Chinese something else you can use to communicate with and represent real people with real problems. (If you're a politician, that's really your only job.)

Because, politician? I dunno, it seems like politicians haven't been interested in public service for a couple hundred years now. Maybe longer.

I know nothing about this particular guy, but from what I learned about J.R.R. Tolkien, serious linguistics freaks often use invented languages to study patterns in language in a clearer form than available on living languages. Basically, it's a sandbox environment to play around with.

If I remember correctly, write-ins in NC are not automatically counted ( http://www.ibiblio.org/prism/Feb97/write.html [ibiblio.org] ). Maybe he can get the few hundred who voted him onto the council to petition for his name to be counted in his race against Hagan. If he's serious about getting some attention, he should get billboards with his photo and a quote in Klingon written underneath. Otherwise, he might as well borrow a cloaking device, because he's going to be invisible anyhow.

As the subject says, he's a petaQ! However, it would have been more interesting if he had stood up in the council chambers, said "taH pagh taHbe' " (to be or not to be), and then disemboweled himself with a handy d'k tagh dagger was carrying. It would have been even better if appeared in Klingon warrior's armor.

Thank God the US Constitution doesnt prescribe a legal language or there was a good chance it could have been German at that time. But there are defacto languages of government used in legal precedents and communicating legislation with citizens. Klingon is not one of them.

Thank God the US Constitution doesnt prescribe a legal language or there was a good chance it could have been German at that time.

Well, maybe. The belief is that if the constitution had stated what the official languages would be, German might have been one of them. I don't think anyone doubted that English would remain the language of government given that English was the language of government and business then which is perhaps the reason one was not specified. But there were so many German speakers in the United States at the time, including one ancestor of mine, that if an official language or languages were specified, German w

It looks like he was a buffoon. He voted no on everything including adjournment of the meetings. To top it off, it looks like the only reason he resigned was because he got bored and wanted to perform one last stunt. No one was forcing him to resign.

The icing on the cake being that the idiot still plans to attend the meetings.

It looks like he was a buffoon. He voted no on everything including adjournment of the meetings. To top it off, it looks like the only reason he resigned was because he got bored and wanted to perform one last stunt. No one was forcing him to resign.

Nope. He's a conservative politician in a primarily progressive area whose main shtick (as you mentioned) was to simply vote "No" on everything regardless of sense or reason. So, naturally, he's resigning to campaign for the U.S. Senate where his skills are clearly in high demand right now.

This guy is "constitution party" which is, essentially, a group of people who think the following:A. The republican party isn't "conservative enough"B. Why haven't we established a theocracy that forbids everything but evangelical Christianity yet?C. B is the true meaning of the constitution.

Please. Playing ignorant(or willfully disdainful) lip service to the constitution as if it's magical is #2 on standard politician processes, after pandering to the individual groups you are talking to today.

Please. Playing ignorant(or willfully disdainful) lip service to the constitution as if it's magical is #2 on standard politician processes, after pandering to the individual groups you are talking to today.

Oh well, at least they know there's a Constitution, and that it governs a Republic (not a democracy) unlike Republicans and Democrats.

What do you think that means, and what do you think isn't being respected about that right now?

I'm always curious when people trot out that whole "Republic v. Democracy" bit, because it seems to be one of those commonly said phrases that means something completely different to most everyone who utters it.

Sorry, we all give in the form of taxes which, according to the Constitution, should be used to "promote the general Welfare" not be given to the increasingly-rich who sequester such public resource.
Donations to PACs does nothing to help those in need. "Faith-based" groups and other charities are totally inadequate to meet the requirements. Government is the only public service organization capable of handling it which is why the Constitution includes that very statement (read some history on 18th C Brita

Wow. Really? When was the last time you saw someone user the word 'libertarian' without adding some colorful adjectives to it? Let alone how Slashdot's increasingly leftist audience routinely refers to Republicans...

Wow. Really? When was the last time you saw someone user the word 'libertarian' without adding some colorful adjectives to it? Let alone how Slashdot's increasingly leftist audience routinely refers to Republicans...

I'm a socialist, I refer to Republicans the same as Democrats: Fucking twats that are working for the corporations.

I've actually moved quite a bit from the left to the center over the years.

And if asked, I say I'm a Libertarian Socialist. Keeps the scratching their heads for a moment while I run away from another useless political argument.

I don't undestand. What's so strange about being a Libertarian Socialist? It's a perfectly understandable position, and a lot closer to the original sense of "libertarian" than the normal American usage, which is what most people in the world describe as "liberal".

See, I know what I'm saying.. but I live in 'merica. I really don't want to have to explain my view to most of the wingers around me. Like John Kerry's 2000 run, the message is just to nuanced for them.

(Notice that the Wikipedia article on anarcho-syndicalism says "Part of a series on Libertarian socialism").

Political philosophies commonly described as libertarian socialist include most varieties of anarchism (especially anarchist communism, anarchist collectivism, anarcho-syndicalism, and mutualism) as well as autonomism, Communalism, participism, libertarian Marxist philosophies such as council communism and Luxemburgism(*), and some versions of "utopian socialism" and individualist anarchism.

Dude, this is why people frequently don't want to talk about politics. I'd rather have a conversation about where I'm wrong, than exchange insults. It's not healthy. This is the Internet. You're going to be smarter than somebody here. Don't take it as a personal insult when we're not.

Dude, this is why people frequently don't want to talk about politics. I'd rather have a conversation about where I'm wrong, than exchange insults. It's not healthy. This is the Internet. You're going to be smarter than somebody here. Don't take it as a personal insult when we're not.

What insults? You're too dumb to use google and wikipedia. You're immune to insults.

Socialist is the original - and still global - meaning of the term Libertarian, before american anarcho-capitalists co-opted the term. Until the internet spread american right-wing libertarianism far and wide, 'lefty socialist anarchist' was how most of the world understood the term. Now there's confusion and you either have to avoid the term entirely or preface it with a qualifier like "US" or "right-wing"

one of the huge differences (compared to US libertarianism) is that libertarian socialists don't fetishise or worship private property as THE single most important foundational doctrine, transcending *everything* else.

Of course not. Guns come first! Then God and Gay bashing.

Kidding aside, you understand why in the US the term confuses people. It's the using of two terms they think they understand are opposites and joining them together to make what they think is an oxymoron. It's also useful as a tool to

I wouldn't have taxes manditory. If you don't want to use civilized things like roads, fire response, police protection, and what not, feel free to move off-grid and live as you wish without paying for those services. Or you can buy them ala cart at an reasonably inflated price. There are some things groups can do better than single providers. I could build up power, water, sewage for my home but I find it better to pay a collective (a really good PUD in my case (snopud.org)), and not having to clear my

Interesting. In common with most people, I've moved to the right as I got older, and saw the errors of left wing proposals. This, however, has not blinded me to the errors of right wing proposals.

FWIW, I consider BOTH the Republicans AND the Democrats to posture in favor of the right wing. And I also consider them both to be liars, merely after increasing centralization of power. In ways that nobody would accept if they understood what was happening.

Hillary championed a national healthcare system during Bill's first term and has been hated by the right ever since. The private insurance requirement was the only way to get it passed.

Highways were almost entirely state and local until Eisenhower (R) created the Interstates, ostensibly to support military maneuvers. The cost has been enormous, but well worthwhile for travel and commerce.

Federal contribution to primary education is around 8% of the total (and growing), the rest is local and state. The pu

One thing to consider is that states are more able to defend their rights against the feds than are individual citizens. So if the right is held by the state, it's less likely to be infringed by the feds.Maybe. States have some power from unified action, with advantages such as most state attny. generals being pretty damned good lawyers and having support teams already lined up for the specialty areas.
I could make a counter-argument however: As you yourself put it "It's not clea

Slashdot (which is overwhelmingly comprised of the comments made by its members) appears to have remained approximately static in terms of its politics, preferring to value people who can make a coherent argument backed by proper facts to favouring any particular party or political theory. If you're interpreting this as "increasingly leftist", that's probably due to your politics lurching rightwards far more rapidly than you think.

Is this just the normal drift right that usually (but not always) comes with age? Or is someone in your environment encouraging this attitudinal shift for their own ends? (If the latter, are you sure they've got your best interests at heart? Chances are not, assuming my thesis [wikipedia.org] has some weight...)

That's hardly professional or mature for an elected official, inside joke or not.

This is a mentality I just can't get down with.

OK, so maybe resigning in Klingon wasn't the best decision he could have made; but, when you start pointing out a certain expectation for the 'professional or mature' attitude of elected officials, you're pretty much assuring that the only people who will fit the bill are the same kind of career politicians that have been fucking things up for your entire life.

This guy hasn't contributed anything of value in his entire career(seriously zilch), and seems to only have gotten his office on account of the fact that the people of Indian Trail don't actually know what the Constitution Party is.

What I'm saying is that when you state such a lofty expectation for behavior in politicians, you pretty much ensure that the only people who will ever qualify for said positions are people who spend their lives being groomed for it. Which leads to political dynasties. Which, IMO, generally suck for the people who aren't part of the aforementioned powerful families.

Context is important to whether a joke is funny, or just stupid. If this were a conscientious councilman who was forced by circumstance to resign, this story would be cute. But this is an egotistical blowhard who used his position as a platform for obstructive ass-hattery (e.g., voting "no" on everything, including motions to adjourn), quitting because even he'd got tired of the stupid game. See MrEricSir's link above.

This guy was a disgrace to his office, and now he's brought disgrace on fan-dom.

In handing in his resignation, he was doing business with the government. Furthermore, Klingon is as real a language as any. People can write and converse in it, and some classics have even been translated to it. I recognize it is a stunt, but it is no more wrong than doing business with the government in any other non-English language.

1) The guy's wife was speaking to the kid in English so evidently this would be considered bilingualism.2) Obviously of the 2, English was the vastly more useful one to communicate with *literally anyone.*3) That's a horrible thing to do to your kid. Don't do experiments with extremely young children. Just don't.

That's a horrible thing to do to your kid. Don't do experiments with extremely young children. Just don't.

A lot of our understanding on how people learn is through experiments on extremely young children. Without it, rather than using the scientific method to figure out the best ways of teaching new things, we are left with randomly trying untested things out on large groups (ie: public school policy).

No, we need to draw some lines. Klingon should not be recognized as a real language, and every municipality should be able to refuse to do any sort of business in it and to deny any accommodation to people who speak it. There is no comparison with Spanish in the U.S., and it's insulting to claim one.

It is a fake language - the first cases of it were isolated words made up for a Star Trek movie (by James Doohan!), and it later was extended, but it's a fabricated language, no one depends on it as their fir

I agree, English only, except in cases where we need to deal with foreign citizens and such.

It is a fake language

There is no such thing as a fake language. It is a constructed language, like many before it throughout history. You can think of French as partially constructed, since it has had an official group determining its vocabulary and evolution for over 300 years.

Doohan made some first bits of Klingon, but after that it was completely created as a whole language by a known

I wondered about that. How can the Klingons have an economy if everyone is a soldier? Soldiers need to eat too. Don't they have farmers? Soldiers need weapons. Don't they have armorers? A spacefaring race would need engineers, navigators, mechanics, pilots, even more mundane things like meteorologists. You'd look real stupid as a spaceship captain if your ship crashed because you didn't go around a hurricane on your descent through the atmosphere.

The language continues to evolve thanks to the Klingon Language Institute, a nonprofit that promotes the language and culture. KLI founder Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen told the News that there isn't really a word for "resignation" in Klingon so Waddell translated the English word with the language's orthography, "which really doesn't work."

A true Klingon speaker would have simply said "pItlh," which translates to "done," in order to mark the end of an event.